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Pakistan wrestlers' visa application still not cleared

The tournament will have grapplers from Iran, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Mongolia and Tajikistan along with hosts India fighting it out for the coveted honour in three categories.

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The 10-member Pakistan wrestling team, which was scheduled to reach India on Tuesday, was still cooling its heels in Islamabad after the visa process has been delayed for some "unknown" reasons.

The Pakistan team is scheduled to take part in the Cadet Asian Championship from June 11 to 14. The tournament, which has already lost its sheen after China withdrew without giving any reason, has been further thrown into jeopardy as the Indian High Commission in Islamabad was still sitting on Pakistan team visas.

The tournament will have grapplers from Iran, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Mongolia and Tajikistan along with hosts India fighting it out for the coveted honour in three categories.

The sub-junior tournament will be held across three formats – freestyle, Greco-Roman and female – at the KD Jadhav Wrestling Stadium in the Indira Gandhi Indoor Sports Complex here. A total number of 112 cadets are expected to be seen in freestyle, 89 in Greco-Roman and 66 in female categories from 19 countries.

All these will vie for 10 gold, 10 silver and 20 bronze medals in each category.

Till late on Tuesday, there was no official communication to the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on whether the visa would be granted to the Pakistani wrestlers before their first bout on June 12.

However, the WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar told dna that the federation will get in touch with the Home Ministry officials at the Islamabad High Commission in its bid to convince them to grant visa to the entire contingent. It has been learnt that Pakistan team, comprising six freestyle grapplers and four officials, had submitted their passports to the Indian High Commission well in advance.

But no reason has been given for the lukewarm response from the Indian embassy.

"Pakistan wrestlers are keen to come here and participate in the championship. We have come to know that their visa application has not yet been cleared. The WFI is trying its best to resolve the issue," said Tomar. "The WFI had sent them the clearance letter from the Ministry of Home Affairs as well the tournament invitation letter well on time, but there has not been any kind of response from the High Commission officials there. We would be making a last-ditch effort on Wednesday and are hopeful of their participation in the Championships."

In the last cadet championships held in Thailand, Indian freestyle grapplers were the overall winners. This time around, WFI is fielding a team of 30 grapplers, 10 for each category.

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